Apple Preps For 2013 Shareholders Meeting, Human Rights On Agenda

Apple has filed official documents with SEC, in order to prep for their upcoming meeting with shareholders next year. The annual meeting will be held at the company’s headquarters in Cupertino on February 27 2013.

Topics to be discussed in this meeting includes the CEO’s total compensation(which was less than $4.2 million), the pending re-election of eight board members, and their stand on adding a separate committee for human rights.

One of the primary issues under focus for Apple is the re-election of key board members including Tim Cook(chief executive officer), Arthur Levinson(chairman), Al Gore, William Campbell, Milliard Drexler, Robert Iger, Andrea Jung, and Ronald Sugar. While most of the committee have been on board for awhile now, Cook and Iger are still relatively new as they joined the board in 2011.

The other main focus is the pending human rights commitee, which Apple hopes to convince shareholders to vote against. This kind of committee would require the company to go over the implications from policies. This committee would also promote human rights for everyone in the United States and worldwide.

In the last few years, Apple’s bright shine was tarnished over the Foxconn controversies. The manufacturing company landed in hot water over everything from hiring underage interns to mistreating employees. There were also several high-profile cases of Foxconn employees who committed suicide.

Despite the Foxconn controversies, Apple doesn’t see a need for a human rights committee. They already claim to be committed to providing high standards of social responsibility. They also mentioned that their current board isn’t aware of any other tech company with better standards than Apple. Adding that their Supplier Responsibility team regularly audits suppliers by the Supplier Code of Conduct that was based from the standards set by the United Nations and International Labor Organization.